Maori Drawing Exercise

Here’s a wonderful DRAWING EXERCISE (10-15 minutes) used as a diagnostic tool by ancient MAORI MEDICINE MEN in New Zealand. In the old days, it was drawn in the sand with a stick, and was done once a year on one’s birthday or in the season of Summer.

It’s a fun way to by-pass your ego to get another perspective on yourself at this particular time in your life.

MAKE YOUR DRAWING BEFORE you read the explanations about each symbol … let the results surprise you.

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Step 1. Draw a circle on a piece of paper, creating a ‘sacred space’ on the page.

STEP 2. On the BACK of the paper, write the following eight words. These are 8 universal symbols, sacred to the Maori, for transformation and healing:

Snake
Flower
Butterfly
Bird
Path
Mountain
Shelter
Tree

STEP 3. Draw these 8 sacred symbols into your sacred space, placing them in a kind of setting. (Take as long as you like. Read the next section after you’ve completed your drawing.)

do your drawing first then scroll down

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This is a sacred portraiture of your work for this next year and it symbolizes from where you’ve come, where you are now and where you’re going.

Adding extra items …

The first thing the medicine person would observe is if you’ve added anything extra that is not on the list.

It is said that children always add more. For example, they tend to add the sun and the moon, little stick figures, animals, water — they add everything. If you didn’t add anything extra, not to worry.

In the Maori language there is no word for “comparison.” You have exactly what you need to sustain your health and well-being for now. If you didn’t add anything extra, you didn’t need that to sustain your health and well-being.

The Maori medicine person would go through and put an “X” on all those extra things and say “I have marked all those things that will heal you because you know they will heal you. You know they will heal you because you added them in.”

(So you if added the sun and moon, it might mean that you need to be outdoors more … it’s taken very literally. If you added people, you need more people contact. That will sustain your health and well-being. If you didn’t add anything, that’s not your work. Not to worry.)

Duplicating any symbols …

Secondly, see if you DUPLICATED any of the symbols. Instead of one mountain, for example, you might have drawn a whole mountain range. Instead of one flower you might have drawn a field of flowers or a flock of birds or more snakes. Any symbol that you have duplicated represents a process in you that wants to be amplified and deepened in multiple arenas of your life. When you learn the meaning of the symbols, you’ll know which ones want to be amplified or deepened.

Adding details …

Thirdly, the Maori would see which of the symbols you fussed over, you went over again, or re-worked, like it wasn’t quite right. Here again, any symbol you fussed over or re-worked, you should pay careful attention to because it signifies a process that, for you, is a source of unlimited creativity and healing.

Next, the Maori would make a dotted line vertically down the middle and another line horizontally across the drawing.

STEP 4. Fold your whole page into quarters so that there is a folded cross that goes through the paper … making four quadrants. You may put a dotted line on these folds, if you like.

EXPLANATION OF THE FOUR QUADRANTS…

The upper left is called the Valley of the Birds. It’s a metaphor for your MENTAL nature. You have drawn in everything that will support your MENTAL health and well-being for next year. If you have a lot of activity and symbols there, your mind is very active and wants to be worked with. If it looks like there are very few symbols there and it’s real quiet then, quite literally, your mind wants more quiet this year.

If your Bird happens to be in that quadrant, the Maori medicine person knows only one thing. That if you’re complaining of a problem or ill-health or something awful in your life, and your Bird is there, the Maori knows it’s NOT your mind that’s creating the problem. The source of the disease or illness or complaint is NOT coming from the mind. If your Bird is not there, then not to worry. You’ve drawn in what you need to support your mental health and well-being this year. (You didn’t need the Bird.)

The lower left-hand quadrant is called The Valley of the Flowers. This is the EMOTION quadrant or the heart quadrant. The symbols that you’ve drawn there are all you need to support your EMOTIONAL health and well-being for this year, if you will work with those symbols. If your FLOWER is there, your source of disease, or discomfort, your problem is NOT an emotional or heart issue. If the flower is not there, then the Maori medicine person knows that you have everything there that you need to support your emotional health and well-being for this year.

The upper right-hand quadrant is called the Valley of the Mountains. This is the SPIRITUAL quadrant and trusting in one’s own intuition and spiritual beliefs. It’s also associated with energy and vitality and life force. You’ve drawn in everything that will support your spiritual health and well-being for this year. If a Mountain is there, it means your complaint or problem is not a spiritual problem. If the Mountain is not there, then it’s okay, because you have drawn in everything you need …

The lower right-hand quadrant is called the Valley of the Trees. This is the PHYSICAL quadrant. This is the quadrant of health, finances, work and creativity. It represents anything in the Outer World. It symbolizes your ability to manifest in the world. It’s your ability to have a quality life-style. It’s your ability to take care of your right livelihood, your body, your work and your physical health. So, you have everything there, drawn in, to support your financial health and well-being, your physical health and well-being and your creative work and right livelihood. If any part of your Tree is there, even if it’s a little leaf or a root, then the medicine person knows that your problem is not with your body, not your finances, it’s not your work. It’s not your external world that’s causing the problem. If a tree is not there, then that’s fine. You have everything there that will support those parts of your life.

If you have a quadrant that doesn’t have anything in it, it’s time for stillness. Lots of symbols drawn in a particular quadrant mean activity. Very few symbols means quiet, rest and stillness. It could be that you need to rest (in that area).

If you have a Bird in the Bird quadrant and a Flower in the Flower quadrant, a Mountain in the Mountain quadrant and a Tree in the Tree quadrant, and you still have a problem, the Maori medicine person would say you’re making it up! You’re creating your own problem! (It can happen!)

WHAT THE SYMBOLS MEAN …
(Read the below AFTER you’ve completed your drawing.)

THE SNAKE

Wherever you have drawn the snake is where the process of healing, regeneration and renewal is occurring, in whatever quadrant or quadrants.

The snake is a very powerful symbol of transformation, cross- culturally.

On your snake, have you drawn an eye, or two eyes and eyelashes? If you drew an eye on your snake, it will be very healing to you to ‘express your vision’ or to use your vision more creatively. If you didn’t, this is not your healing work this year.

Did you draw a little tongue on your snake? That’s where communication is very important. It will be very healing to communicate your ideas (if it’s in the mental quadrant) or your feelings if it’s in the emotional quadrant, or communicate your spirituality if it’s in the spiritual quadrant, or communicate in the outer world if it’s in the physical quadrant. If you didn’t draw a tongue for your snake, communication is not an issue for you. It’s not your healing work for this year.

Did you decorate your snake? Stripes, dots, rings, etc., signify that bringing more beauty into your life would be more healing and renewing to you. If you didn’t decorate your snake, that’s not your requirement this year.

THE FLOWER

The flower … is where you are willing to be open, to be vulnerable. It signifies where you are growing and unfolding. The flower is a universal symbol of being able to grow, to open, to blossom without defenses. Wherever your flower is, that’s where you are most open to new ideas, new feelings, new spiritual growth or new ways in the outer world, etc.

THE BIRD

The bird … whatever quadrant or quadrants, this is where communication is absolutely essential, because the bird is a universal symbol of the messenger. Wherever it is, you carry a gift of communication and it needs to be used in that area … to maximize your personal health and well-being.

THE PATH

The path … wherever it is located on your drawing, the path is the universal symbol of direction and goals. You have goals that are either mental, emotional, spiritual, or physical. You have a direction. It’s also interesting to see where the path goes and what it connects with on your drawing. If the path goes up to your house, then you have goals and intentions that will support you in that quadrant. If your path is in all four quadrants it means you have goals in all four areas.

THE MOUNTAIN

The mountain … wherever it is, is where you have a deep connection to the sacred. You have a deep sense of faith and trust in the Mystery.

A mountain is a universal symbol of searching, seeking, questing, exploring our connection to faith and spirituality. Every culture of the world has its ‘sacred mountain’ which seems to reach up to what is higher and greater.

If you have drawn a mountain in the mind quadrant, your connection to the spirit is through the inspired mind. Or if you have drawn a mountain in the emotional quadrant, your spiritual connection is through your love nature, through the heart. If you have placed it in the spiritual quadrant, you very easily and fully connect to the Source. If you have it in the physical quadrant, your spirituality is spirit in action, using it in practical ways, perhaps volunteering, counseling or donating.

THE BUTTERFLY

The butterfly is a major symbol of Transformation from the chrysalis to the caterpillar to the butterfly. When it reaches the butterfly stage, it’s in its last stage. The butterfly is a universal symbol of completion, having completed something fully.

In whatever quadrant or quadrants you’ve drawn the butterfly, you are completing something fully, either mentally or emotionally or spiritually or physically. Something is coming to completion within your nature, something you may have outgrown or find unnecessary now, because you’ve experienced it to its fullness.

THE TREE

The tree, in whatever quadrant or quadrant you have drawn the tree, it is yet another reminder of transformation, but particularly of natural, organic growth.

This is a symbol of no pretense. It’s a symbol of authenticity. It’s a symbol of organic, natural growth, whether you are conscious or unconscious of it’s role in your life. (We often take trees for granted.)

The roots of the tree, whether they’re exposed or not in your drawing, is where your heritage and your legacy are revealing their importance to you. A tree can not stand unless it is rooted. If you’ve drawn those roots to make them visible for all to see, then it’s very important. You want people, everyone, to see where you’ve come from. Your past is important to show. People will know that your roots are important to you.

If you didn’t draw roots so that others can see them, they’re important too, but you want to be able to share them (your personal history) with only those people you trust.

The trunk of the tree represents your present work, so whichever quadrant the trunk is drawn in is where you’re willing to show up and be present. The branches of the tree symbolize what you’re reaching for, what you want to harvest or bring to fruition. So you might have branches going up to the mind, harvesting new ideas and so forth.

THE HOUSE

The house or shelter, wherever you have drawn it, is a symbol of identity strengths, ego and personality. You carry a strong mental identity or strong emotional identity or strong financial or work identity. Sense of self, sense of identity, sense of home, sense of strength. It’s where you carry your strength, where you feel secure, where you feel strong.

TOTAL DRAWING

You may want to color your drawing and perhaps title and date it. It would be interesting to put it on your wall as a visual affirmation for this year.

If you drew any symbols OUTSIDE the circle, they represent processes on which you want no limitations. Freedom, exploration.

If you omitted a symbol, it’s not your healing work for this year. Not to worry. And remember, anything extra you added, that was not called for, symbolizes that you know you need that process to heal yourself. You might have added water, which means you need to be in and around more water for some reason.